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A Little Freedom of Speech
Coruscant may be the capital of the Empire, but that doesn't mean that every person living on it is immediately in tune with galactic happenings. Some of the reality of the Emperor's speech at Lord Vader's memorial, and the subsequent destruction of the Twi'lek homeworld, took a good night of sleeping on it for the population to actually think about it. A good night of sleep, or a long night of drinking. The morning press of bodies in The Glow is less than later in the day, with the entertainment spots not yet attracting extra crowds. Nevertheless, a small crowd has gathered at a somewhat darker patch of wall between the Sprawl Nightclub, and the nearby medical center. A droid seems to have had its speakers comandeered as an impromptu PA, and several people are taking turns speaking with great animation. The subject? Ryloth's destruction. The Glow Just below the surface of Imperial City, this cavernous edifice is a sort of underground mall, with colorful, randomly shifting geometric patterns of light playing across the ceiling. That light show, along with the colored signs and holographic enticements for the various buildings lining the main strip, give this section of Imperial City its name: The Glow. Although Imperial stormtroopers are present, they seem to be little more than a token force in this area. However, should trouble arise, it is well known that reinforcement squads are just moments away. Gelidus steps out of a hovercab, and looks about under his helmet. He may be off-duty, but he decided the armor would be safer after the events of the previous night. The current speaker seems to be a young man, human of course, listing out statistics for the size and population of Ryloth. He starts building to more impressive numbers, and mentioning the economic value the windswept world had to the Empire, before taking a great risk and saying right out: "The Emperor has gone too far! All that, gone, for one man! For one victim, and one perpetrator." That starts to lose some of his audience, lazily interested passers by suddenly thinking of treason and leaving the scene, and others outright resenting a direct challenge to their Emperor: "If one of them can kill Lord Vader, they could kill all of us!" "They really are a threat, *I* never took it seriously before. Those terrorists needed to be put on the defensive!" A more moderate speaker quickly takes over, but the muttering to both sides is out there now. Rushii steps out of the tavern of all places, missing the opening remarks, but seeing a crowd not so far away. The officer pauses to take stock of the situation. Gelidus begins to walk casually in the crowd's direction, scanning the faces as he moves. He listens intently, curious about the mood of the populace to the Emperor's actions. The crowd is only one crowd, in one place, and one time. But those speaking out directly against the Emperor, here so close to his palace, seem very few indeed. "Those Twi'leks, they sell their children into slavery." "Oh, but the children... Couldn't we have given them some warning?" "Hah, you think warning would have saved any *good* folk on that planet? You know how greedy and selfish those Twi'lek merchants can be. I bet it would be the worst of them who escaped, I think the Emperor was right to do it all so sudden like that." "We're gettin' right short on sources of spice... You think the Emperor has a secret plan in mind, wipin' out that stuff?" The original young man who spoke out against the Emperor is now, in fact, in a fist fight with some fellow in a synthweave sports jacket sporting a TIE squadron crest. Gelidus begins to move toward the scuffle, his gaze scanning the area--it is obvious he hates to step into a crowd with no one to watch his back, but he begins to push his way toward the fight. As Gelidus moves through the crowd, a few more interesting comments might be caught. "I know he's done what's best to keep the worlds from fighting eachother, but do you think the Emperor just sees each planet as a spot on some strategy map?" The attention that first loud - and possibly treasonous - remark brought to the discussion is starting to split it up into little eddies of conversational groups less easy to associate with eachother. Or arrest. "What did Lord Vader do to earn *that* revenge on his behalf? All I know is he was important to our Emperor. Guess that's the best character reference you can get." "He must have been amazing to deserve it. I hear he singlehandedly kept the Jedi from stopping the Empire's birth!" Rushii also moves forward as she catches sight of the fight. There's a different sound to it. Loud insults after all, and then there's that fighter pilot's jacket... The Sub-Lieutenant isn't keen on letting the navy drag itself through the dirt anymore. She's in uniform still though, so as Rush converges on Gelidus' path, voices suddenly drop in volume around her as people notice. The two men fighting up ahead sure don't, some pretty harsh insults now being thrown back and forth. "I bet you'd rather kiss a Wookiee than protect your own family from rebel scum," the pilot growls, as he wipes blood from his nose. Gelidus finally reaches the fight, elbowing several members of the crowd as he does so. With a deft movement, he tries to grab both combatants by the back of the neck long enough to clunk their heads together, hoping to stun them long enough to break up the fight. "Hoy, you keep out of this grunt, unless you want to help defend our Emperor to this traitor here," the flyboy shouts, ducking out of the way of Gelidus' grasping hand with ease. The young man doing the speaking makes a more concise statement - he throws a punch at the off duty Trooper the moment he notes the standard issue military garb. "Unfeeling Rybat larvae," the man curses, a haughty expression on his face despite the already swelling eye. Rushii sees the awkward attempt from behind, and starts pushing through people a bit quicker to catch up, her brows furrowed together at the situation. Gelidus ducks the punch and curses at himself for failing to break up the fight quickly. "Get out of here, flyboy. The Navy doesn't need any sort of incident here," he grunts as he launches a left jab at the man, just intending to stun him. "And what are *you* doing then?" The flyboy sneers as Gelidus quickly gets dragged into the brawl. Taking advantage of the activist's distraction, the pilot aims a fist for the man's gut with a simple swing. "*I'm*" he emphasises on the hit, "Gonna beat this traitor to a pulp for saying that to a crowd!" The young man might just get into his share of brawls, the way he talks, but he's no fighter by trade. He just barely manages to move his head enough, and the Trooper's fist touches his jaw, but not enough to do more than feel he hasn't been home to shave this morning. The activist - distracted by the Trooper's intervention - takes the punch to his stomach and staggers back a couple steps, the breath knocked out of him. Not much room for his fancy words in a fight. Gelidus grabs the pilot's arm to get his attention and shakes his head. "C'mon, bud, let's get out of here before things get worse. Planet security can deal with these people," he says as he glances about the crowd. The activist is hunched over for the moment still, but manages to wheeze out another mudslinging remark while he tries to straighten upright. "That's right, let the boys in white come arrest us all. You don't want to deal with reality yourselves!" It's unlikely Coruscant defense would bother sending Stormtroopers for some kid like this, but he's obviously thinking like some grand martyr to pull something like this in the first place. The flyboy starts pulling his arm free from Gelidus to go take another swing at the injured man, but Rushii finally pushes her way through the ring of specatators, and she's got just enough rank bars on that shirt to catch his attention. He takes a step back instead, shaking the arm loosely to let the Stormtrooper know he can let go, and wiping at his bloody nose with his free hand. "You're right, he's not worth it... Stupid git, no appreciation," the pilot starts muttering. "What's all this about?" Rushii questions, stopping beside Gelidus in the middle of things. Black Hovercab - 7173 arrives and comes to a halt near the curb. Gelidus shakes his head in disgust at the 'martyr' before turning his attention to Rushii. "This fool needs to learn some respect," he says, nodding toward the protester. "Your flyboy here just decided to teach it at an inopportune time," he says as he lets go of the pilot's arm. Janmes leaves the Black Hovercab - 7173. Janmes has arrived. Black Hovercab - 7173 speeds off to pick up another customer. The Glow isn't as crowded as the usual rush hours later in the day, but some sort of gathering seems to have broken up over near the Sprawl Nightclub in one of the less illuminated corners of the cavernous area. People still seem clustered over there, talking amongst themselves. A bit of an open area - until a minute ago, the site of a quick fistfight - is close to one wall. A slightly beaten looking young man is still catching his breath, and another with a synthweave jacket bearing a TIE fighter squadron emblem on it is just stalking away. Rushii, standing in that open spot as well, frowns as she looks at the departing flyboy. "Not 'mine'," she reminds Gelidus with an annoyed sound to her voice at the pilot's behavior. "But I'll find who that logo belongs to and pass on word to his squad leader. I saw them fighting from further away," Rushii admits, with a nod towards the activist. "Didn't know what about. Think we should grab this one, make sure he doesn't slip away in the crowds?" She questions, letting her eyes linger on the haughty looking young man. Gelidus shrugs his shoulders. "Nah, let him go," he states after a few moments consideration. "If he hasn't learned his lesson, they'll pick him up fairly quickly," he says as he continues to study the man, Janmes steps clear of a non-desript Black Hovercap and scans the area. Catching a glimpse of Rushii and Gelidus in an open area near the Tavern and quickly crosses the Glow towards them. "Well, then there's also the question of if we'd rather let the planetary police pick him up, with the current favoring of decisive action against the rebels," Rushii notes blandly, turning away from the young man with an unimpressed sort of expression on her face. She arches a brow, studying Gelidus for a moment instead. "It would either give him a good scare and maybe straighten a kid like that out a bit, or just make him more set in these ideas. You know how these sorts are - once they get an idea in their head, everything is just more evidence to support it." A hand waves dismissively, "But you say let him go, and I think he'd talk until your helmet speakers blow sooner than listen. Doesn't quite appeal to me right now." Gelidus nods his head. "Exactly," he states, giving the rabble rouser a dismissive wave before turning to examine the rapidly dispersing crowd. "Wasn't expecting to see you down here, Rush. Been like this all night?" Janmes arrives on the scene, and calmly surveys the departing crowd. Catching a glimpse of the departing Tie pilot, he gazes at the emblem for a second then comments, "Looks like the 552nd TIE Fighter Squadron, to me. I thought they were posted to one of the ISD's on the outer rim though." Shrugging thoughtfully, he smiles calmly in the general direction of the other combatant for a second. "It appears that I just missed some excitement." Rushii shakes her head in a negative. "No, it was quiet until this, at least from what I saw." She says in answer to both men. "Coruscant is hardly the place for radical reactions, after all, but I think the Emperor's choice of such surprise tactics helped to keep the peace." A hand sweeps out, taking in the dispersing crowds, and a few more stumbling drunk out of the tavern from a night out. "Only the peacekeepers knew what was happening, so we were prepared, while any rebels or sympathizers out there were caught with their pants down. No chance to pull any tricks on us, or hurt the Empire in retribution." The Lieutenant glances approvingly in the direction of the Imperial Palace. "Had a few of these bleeding heart types in the bar, but I think it took them all night to work up the courage to be properly stupid. Everyone else was celebrating such a splendid blow." Gelidus nods his head as he considers. "Alcohol fueled anger and stupidity," he states as he looks about the Glow. "It'll wear off," he finishes, though a frown still crosses his face. He looks at Rushii searchingly for a fraction of a second before glancing back across the square. Janmes curtly nods his agreement with the Trooper's comment, the frowns thoughtfully as he considers the implications of the evenings actions. "I hope that things work out as the Emperor plans." he says with a slight sigh, "A display of power of that magnitude may just have the opposite effect of its intent." Rushii only catches Gelidus' look after he's already turned away, so quick it was. The officer raises a brow at the Ensign, "Opposite effect? Howso. I can't imagine there being a sudden upswing in the number of Twi'lek rebels and ryl-spice smugglers after they were blown up." For as thoughtful as she usually is, those examples have such a blunt edge that they are obviously a prompt for Janmes to share something more probable. Gelidus senses: Rushii looks back in Gelidus' direction after giving the initiative back to the ensign as a distraction. She waits to make eyecontact, a questioning look in her dipped brows, and mouthes the words: 'What is it?' The first at least might be possible to understand. Gelidus shakes his head, listening to the pair's conversation, but his attention seems devoted to the people walking through the Glow. His gaze flicks to groups of people, trying to guage the mood. Janmes pauses to collect his thoughts before speaking, but doesn't seem particularly indtimidated. "Well you are certainly correct that the numbers of Twi'lek rebels could decrease, although even that is not necessarily the case since most Twi'lek rebels and ryl-smugglers were likely off planet while it was destroyed." He pauses momentarily before continuing, "And now those Twi'lek who were off planet have a real reason to hate the Empire." He shrugs his shoulders slightly, "The general populace will no doubt be cowed by the example, and it may cause the supply lines of rebels to dry up for a time... But historically those who are really rebellious seldom see reason because of apocalyptic scale examples." It's hard to judge the true thoughts of people running by on their daily business, but the news of Ryloth's destruction is certainly amazing enough to permeate almost every conversation. It will probably be something to overhear around the galaxy for weeks following. "Ah, this is true," Rushii notes without much surprise at Janmes' discussion. "In fact, we had our own little microcosm here. The activist who had been, quite ignorantly I might add, speaking out against his Imperial Majesty... I had just been mentioning that if the police force picked him up, he might be scared into rethinking things a bit, but more than likely would just stay set in his ways and take whatever happened as more proof that he was right." She frowns, "And the bigger the demonstration, the bigger the proof." Gelidus nods in agreement with the reasoning, but doesn't see a need to interrupt the naval officers. Janmes sighs again, and shakes his head thoughtfully. Glancing around he says thoughtfully, "No one ever said people were smart, especially rebels." He rests his right hand on his holster and says, "I wouldn't be suprised is the rebels tried something big in the near future. If we can keep the pressure on them for a while their support from the commoners might dry up, but if they strike back hard and fast who know what would happen." Rushii straightens, her stance comfortable with assurance, though for some reason she keeps glancing over towards the thoughtful Stormtrooper. "I know what would happen. They would prove themselves a threat. The populace would think we were justified to come down so harshly on them. Any bad hit to a target they could actually hurt wouldn't be military, they aren't that powerful, and that is not the way to gain them support." Her jaw sets for a moment, before it opens to admit more words. "We just need to make sure we don't fail in protecting them so badly they lose the respect for the Empire's power this demonstration has given us." Gelidus nods but continues to frown, finally turning his attention back to the Imperials. "I think perhaps we should get back to the palace. I'd like to get back into my armor," he states, looking down at his uniform uncomfortably. Janmes smiles thoughtfully for a moment before acknowledging Gelidus' words. He turns back to face the Trooper, and prepares to leave should that be necessary. "Aye", he says in agreement with the Sub-Lieutenant, "a valid point, although I heard some rumors about some big attacks on shipyards in the past, completely unverifiable rumaors of course." "Worried about retribution here?" Rushii questions, her voice light to keep those words treading the fine line between friendly teasing, and an insult about cowardace, that their subject forces them to balance on. But she didn't get as thorough an understanding of the incident as Gelidus, so she has to ask it. "We lost a Star Destroyer, I think that was a fairly verifiable attack, as it's no longer there," the officer notes, somewhat shortly, to the Ensign. She moves decisively towards an open area, raising a hand to flag a cab. You hail a passing hovercab and it pulls up to the curb. Gelidus shakes his head. "On Coruscant? Not very likely, but I feel naked without the armor. And I'm not feeling particularly confident after that whooping your team gave mine last night." Janmes chuckles quietly, a small grin pulling at the corners of his mouth. "If I remember correctly, /you/ didn't do too badly," he comments. He shrugs slightly and then trurns back to Rushii, perhaps noting something in her voice. "I misspoke myself perhaps, I have had no verification of it. I was still out with the 101st when the event took place and according to operating procedure we were not informed. The rumor I heard wsas 4th or 5th hand from a creman, not exactly first rate intel." Rushii rests a hand on the open doorframe of the hovercab before entering. "Well, my team did have an advantage in numbers, and in position. The reds didn't have much cover where you came in," the officer notes to the Trooper encouragingly, and then nods in acknowledgement of Janmes' justification. It must suddenly feel too formal, for Rush's lips curl in a sudden grin. "Hop in, lets go get you your armor. Maybe we can borrow some of those pistols again and practice *not* getting hit?" Category:Reach of the Empire Logs